


Drunk Words Are Sober Thoughts

by Tiredbutawesome



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Episode: s04e13 Nag Hammadi Is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospel, F/M, Fix-It, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24050167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiredbutawesome/pseuds/Tiredbutawesome
Summary: A rewrite of the scene in season 4 episode 13 AKA: Luke drunkenly tries to fix a window in order to avoid his problems, and ends up saying a lot more than he intended.
Relationships: Luke Danes/Lorelai Gilmore
Comments: 3
Kudos: 47





	Drunk Words Are Sober Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> as soon as I saw this scene, I felt that it needed a little more to it, so I decided to rewrite it the way I thought is should have gone. I'll mostly be working with the cannon dialogue and just adding my own stuff in.This is purely self-indulgent, but I hope you enjoy it anyways.

When Lorelai walked into the house that day, she wasn't exactly expecting Luke Danes to be standing in her living room. Especially since she hadn't left the door unlocked. That being said, she wasn't really surprised, either. She was almost used to having him around all the time, as there seemed to never be a time when everything in the house was working the way it should be, and he was much cheaper than a handy man.

"Oh, Luke."

"Oh, yeah. Hey." he responded. he was facing away from her, observing his right hand. She walked toward him.

"How did you get in here?' she inquired, hanging up her purse. She wasn't really concerned so much as curious. He had already fixed the back door, and as far as she knew, there weren't any other ways to get in the house.

"Your bedroom window was open." he replied nonchalantly, as if that was a perfectly normal explanation.

"My bedroom window is on the second floor. What did you do?" Okay, now she was a little concerned.

"I... promised to fix your window, so I'm here to fix your window." He was clutching his hand now, wiping it against his shirt. It was then that she noticed the blood.

"Oh, my God, you cut yourself!" She took a step forward to see his face. He didn't seem too bothered for a man with a bleeding hand.

"Glass was broken." She could hear a slight slurring of his speech.

"Hence the need for fixing." she watched him press the fabric of his shirt into his hand, and he grunted, seemingly from the pain. she could smell the faint scent of alcohol on his breath. 

"I'm sorry, are you drunk?" now she knew something was definitely up. She had never seen Luke have more than one or two beers, as long as she'd known him. he scoffed.

"I'm not drunk, I do not get drunk." he seemed to find this pretty funny, but it was clear that she didn't believe him. "I had some beer." he confessed. "Beers. More than one, a few. And then I came here, and I climbed your tree."

"Well, good thinking." she deadpanned. Her tone wasn't stern. She wasn't mad at him or anything, she just wanted to figure out what was going on.

"And then I fell out of your tree.." he continued. She started guiding him toward the couch.

"Hm. Sit down." she encouraged, gesturing for him to sit as she walked into the other room.

"I fell flat on my back. I felt like Kirk."

"Hold your hand up in the air." She told him, and he did, without question. He was slowly making his way to the couch while continuing his story.

"-and then I climbed back up the tree. This time I made it. I got in... sorry about the lamp." he concluded as he sat down, staring at his wounded hand.

"You know, Luke, you could have broken your neck." she returned to the living room, holding a damp cloth and a box of Barbie Band-Aids.

"Well, it would have been alright if I had. I would have fixed it," he slurred. "because that't what I do. I fix things. Even when they don't want to be fixed." he sighed as she sat down beside him.

"Let me see your hand"

"Why?" he asked

"Because it's bleeding and I need to look at it." she gingerly took his hand, but could only glance at the cut. "Oh! Gross!"

"It's fine, leave it." he said as she tried to dab at the wound without looking at it. 

"I can't leave it, it's bleeding! " as she said this, she was blindly dabbing the damp cloth somewhere around the general area of where the cut was, unknowingly missing it entirely.

"That's my wrist." he said, a slight grin on his face.

"oh, sorry." she opened her eyes and started dabbing the cloth again, this time actually looking at the wound she was tending to.

"You're very good at this." although it was definitely sarcastic, he did mean it, in a way. She knew exactly what to do, and she did it without so much of a second thought. 

"I don't like blood, okay?" 

"Then leave it alone."

"No, I can't leave it! You're not the only one who gets to fix things, you know." She opened a Barbie Band-Aid and placed it on the cut as best she could. It was too small for the job, but it would do for now. "There. You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Nothin," he sighed, rising from the couch. He walked back towards the broken window.

"What are you doing?" she asked, closing the box and setting down the rag.

"I'm gonna fix the window." he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Forget the window!" she replied, sounding exasperated.

"I can't forget the window. I made a promise, and I am _the_ reliable guy, who helps everybody out, wether they like it or not." he started to turn back to his work."

"What?" this was pretty sudden. Luke was never one for elf-reflection. These had to be someone else's words.

"Oh yea, haven't you heard? Nothin' I can do about it, s'just the way I am. It is my big problem. Didn't know it was my big problem 'till today, but now I know. It is my big problem" He looked down at the Band-Aid on his hand, as if he had just now noticed it. "Got a handful of Barbie."

"Luke, what happened today?" She pressed him. It was clear that something had made him upset, but she still couldn't figure out what it was. He turned to face her.

"Today I found out what a big, dumb, idiot guy I am. Just an imposing, judgmental know-it-all who blows around, yelling and complaining and screwing up everybody else's life."

"I hardly think you're-"

"Especially you! You have to deal with me always shoveling your walk, or fixing the porch- I even built you a chuppah! You didn't want a chuppah, you never asked for one. Hell, you're not even jewish, but I made it anyway because I couldn't... I couldn't just sit around and watch you get married like a normal person."

"Hey, I liked that chuppah! It turns out I didn't need it, but it looks nice sitting next to the rose bushes."

"I'm dumb," he continued, like he hadn't even heard her. "Yeah, not like Jess. Jess is smart. You know, He doesn't care about anybody else's life. He just takes care of himself." he started pointing his finger in time with the rhythm of his words, as if to emphasize his point.

"Did you and Jess have a thing?" finally, they were getting closer to the root of the issue.

"He informed me that I am nothing but an unwelcome burden to everyone around me." he started laughing then. The same way one laughs when they're on the verge of breaking down, but they aren't quite ready for it yet, like he was laughing to keep from crying.

"Luke, that's not true!" she tried to reassure him, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.

"Yes, it is." he was still laughing

"Luke, stop it." she stood up now, and walked over to him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. He shrugged it off.

"He's right. He was right about another thing too. I _am_ pathetic. I'm just like a golden retriever, or whatever it was. Just sitting around, waiting for you to... I dunno. It doesn't matter anyways. It's not like it's ever gonna happen, and I _know_ that, but I still do all this stuff anyway. It's pathetic. He's right. I should be happy, I'm _married_ for god's sake. But I'm not, and I never will be." 

"Luke, what are you talking about? _What's_ never gonna happen?" She was really worried now, it wasn't like him to say stuff like this,. He sounded like he was about to go jump off a bridge or something. she tried to look him in the eye, but he just turned away.

"S'fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. It's all... fine." He was almost swaying on his feet.

"C'mon Luke, just look at me" She was almost pleading with him now. "Jess is an unhappy kid. He's angry. He doesn't mean the things he says." He finally met her gaze.

"He did me a favor." He was calmer now, like he was finally beginning to clear his head. She took his arm and slowly guided him back to the couch.

"Listen, why don't you hang out here? Rest for a while, okay? We'll get you a real bandage." she spoke in an even, reassuring tone.

"I like the Barbie ones." he mumbled.

"Yes, honey, but the other kids will beat you up if they see you with one of those." she sat him down gently as he laughed at her remark. His laugh was different now, he sounded more like himself. She patted his arm gingerly. "I'll be right back."

And with that, she grabbed her purse, pulled on her coat, and headed out the door. It wasn't long after that she returned to find him asleep in nearly the same position that she had left him. Silently, she put a blanket over him and decided to let him sleep it off for a while. When he finally woke, it was starting. to get dark outside. He looked down, confused at the fluffy pink blanket that covered him. As he began to sit up, his head started pounding. He noticed a glass of water and two white pills sitting on the coffee table in front of him. 

"Morning sleeping beauty, or, should I say, good evening." he looked over to see Lorelai standing in the doorway. "You should probably take those. Don't worry, it's just Ibuprofen." She walked into the living room and sat in the chair across from him. "Listen, I was just about to call Al's and pick up some dinner, you want anything?"

"Uh, no I think I'm good. Actually, I should be getting back. It's getting kinda late, and I gotta check on the diner. Gotta make sure nobody's wrecked the joint."

"Oh, yeah, sure." She replied. For a moment, she almost seemed disappointed. "Of course. Just take it easy, okay? Wouldn't want anything to happen to the only guy in Star's Hollow who can make a decent cup of coffee." She watched him. get up and walk towards the front door. "You sure you're okay to drive?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm good. I'm not still, you know... anyway, it's only a couple of blocks, and it's not like we get much traffic." He felt around for his keys, eventually finding them in his back pocket. 

"Well, okay then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Yeah I guess." He opened the door and started to leave when-

"Wait, Luke." She rose from her chair. He froze in place and looked back at her. She started to walk towards him, but stopped just before the door. "The-uh, bandages, for your hand." She began to rummage through a bag that had been sitting next to the coat rack by the door. After a moment, she produced from it a small box, which she held out to him.

"What? Oh, uh, thanks." he said, accepting the box. He tuned to leave"Bye, Lorelai."

"Bye" she said, closing the door behind him.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai was surprised to find a message waiting for her on the answering machine. She pressed play, and a familiar voice played through the speaker. 

_"Hey, Lorelai, it's me. I know you're probably asleep. At least, I hope you're asleep. It's just past two in the morning. Listen, I'm still kinda fuzzy on the details of today. All I know is that I probably said something I shouldn't have, and if I did, I'm sorry. I'm still not sure what came over me. Maybe it was the thing with Jess, I dunno. I haven't been that drunk in a while, but I know that when I am, I tend to run my mouth and - look, if I said something... out of place, or that made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. And I_ will _fix that window. I'll probably check it out tomorrow, if you're good with that. I promise not to break any lamps on my way in this time. So uh- call me back, and let me know if there's a time that works for you. Or, I guess I'll see you at the diner tomorrow anyway, so I guess you don't actually need to call but- you know what I mean. Anyway, coffee is on the house tomorrow, since you had to take care of me and all that. I'll see you then. Uh, bye."_

Lorelai smiled, and saved the message before continuing on with her morning routine.


End file.
